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Sunday, November 13, 2011

The Weekend Report - Whew! A Double-Q!

So this weekend was my final trial weekend of the year. It was at a new location, an equestrian center in Fredericksburg, Va. We were in one of the large indoor horse arenas. It was a tad dusty, mainly along the edges, the rings being pretty welled watered down. Of course, this meant many good smells to distract the more nasal-based dogs.

The first class of the day was Standard. It was a nice course. The judge spread out across the space provided. There really weren't too many traps although I almost botched getting Jimmy over the Aframe. Jimmy gave me a nice table and all the bars stayed up! Woohoo! We started our day off with a Q! And when the results were posted, I couldn't believe my eyes! Jimmy earned a 2nd place!

The day was running Tall to Small, so we had a bit of a wait for Jumpers. Once again, it wasn't too tricky. There was one spot heading to the tunnel where Jimmy could decide he wanted the wrong end of the tunnel, but luck was on my side. Again the bars stayed up, and we had a Q! We weren't speedy enough to place in the ribbons but Jimmy came in a very respectable 6th place. When you consider the competition we are up against, Jimmy always does very well in the speed department.

I am sure my smile could have been seen from the moon when we qualified in Jumpers! This broke the long drought on double-q-ing! I won't say I've conquered my ring nerves yet, but I have been working hard on the mental side of the game.

I hung around for another hour in order to play Time to Beat. It was a fun course similar to the JWW run with a teeter and a serpentine thrown in. Unfortunately, when my turn started, the dog just in front of me pooped on his way out of the ring. So, even though I was already three obstacles into my run, the judge made me stop. Jimmy was very confused at this. Once the mess was cleaned up, I got to start again, but my mojo was gone. Jimmy dropped the very first bar as we started again. The judge took pity on me, and let me try to start again. But karma would have none of it, and Jimmy took out one of the bars in the serpentine. So I just cheered him on through the weaves, and in the home stretch, encouraged him to run the line as fast as possible, again cheering him on. In a run where I was Qing, I would never risk talking/cheering while we were running!

I actually signed up for both trial days of the weekend. However, in dog training, you are always supposed to stop a training session on a positive, successful note, quitting with the dog still wanting more. I took this to heart and decided not to drive back for Sunday. This way my year ends with the positive, happy feeling of a double-Q.

5 comments:

Yay for you and jimmy! I wish ewe could have been there to watch. But Erika and I had a lovely time exploring the Lancaster, PA area. I can't believe it is time to go home already! I'll miss my girl, but am looking forward to seeing my dog-girls and Glenn.